


infinite book of secrecy.

by fade131



Category: B.A.P
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 03:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16255628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fade131/pseuds/fade131
Summary: Junhong just wanted something to fill the time, somewhere to volunteer that wouldn't be stressful.





	infinite book of secrecy.

**Author's Note:**

> From a cc prompt:
> 
> "yongguk and junhong meet at the local animal shelter. yongguk has worked there for a few years after college, and junhong is currently in college and doing his placement."
> 
> I actually missed the part about doing a placement but this would have gone in a Different Direction anyway because hello it's me. So I'm sorry and you're welcome I guess. I didnt realize how long this was until cc wouldn't let me post it all in the answer box lol sorry orz

Yongguk has such a way with animals, and Junhong is a little jealous, a little intrigued, this quiet older hyung who puts him patiently through their little training course, who introduces him to the animals, shows him the best way to hold the rabbits... Yongguk is a mystery, Junhong thinks, almost always there, with his thoughtful answers to every question, his gentle helpfulness. The animals love him, too -- there's always one with him, a dog trailing obediently at his heels, a cat perched on the front desk while he does paperwork, a hamster peeking out of his lab coat pocket -- and Junhong would think it was weird but it feels so... right.

It's just volunteer work, something to fill the space around his classes, he misses his own dog but he can't have him at school. He hadn't transferred into this college knowing about the shelter, but after hed made a few new friends someone had mentioned it, mentioned they were always looking for students to come in, to help socialize the animals more. It had sounded like a great idea, even if it took time away from making new friends, but then... being in a new college was stressful enough without putting too much pressure on himself to make a lot of friends in his first semester. Junhong tells himself they'll come with time. 

When midterms come around he knows he should take a break, focus on his studies, but it feels like the only gap of time where he's not stressed out of his mind is when he's there. Yongguk seems to notice (what didn't he notice?), at least Junhong thinks he does, because he gets asked to walk the dogs more often, to sit in the cat room and play, less real chores. He appreciates it, but he doesn't say anything -- now, with a little time getting to know him, Yongguk makes him feel... shy, and strange, and thanking him when he's not sure he even did anything on purpose would be weird and embarrassing, probably.

Jongup tells him to just go for it, over lunch a little while later, after Junhong spent the last hour talking about how Yongguk was so charming, in such a quiet way -- apparently his protest is that Junhong's been saying the same thing ten different ways since he started crushing on Yongguk, which Junhong takes full offence to, because it's not a crush, and maybe it is but he's much more eloquent than just that.

Yongguk blinks at him in surprise at the suggestion, and Junhong fidgets a little with his bag, dread creeping up his spine (shouldn't have said a thing, you idiot, it doesn't matter, he thinks you're just one of a dozen kids who volunteers here--). But he says he'd love to, giving Junhong a warm smile that makes the tangle of anxiety in his stomach melt a little.

They go after Junhong's scheduled time that day is over, Yongguk taking his lunch break, and the cafe down the street is quiet and intimate and Junhong feels way out of his league but once they've got their drinks and sat down he commits to it, talkative and a little forward, because this might be his one chance to express this feeling that's been bubbling under his skin and he's going to do it, he wants Yongguk to see he really means it, really likes him.

(He can't tell if it comes across, but Yongguk smiles when they part, says he'll see Junhong tomorrow, and it isn't a win but maybe it's not a loss either.)

It's purely chance that he sees Yongguk outside of the shelter.

They've gone out a few times -- he hesitates to call it that, spending Yongguk's lunch break together, grabbing coffee or wandering the little park nearby, because Yongguk hasn't given any indication that it's anything but friendship between them, and maybe it's just that, maybe he's just being nice because he saw Junhong was lonely, like the animals in the shelter -- but still, Junhong feels like Yongguk has learned way more about him, feels like he still doesnt really _know_ anything about Yongguk. Not where he lives, if he does anything outside of work, who his friends are, nothing about his parents, only that he went to the college too before working here... Junhong feels like maybe he's talked too much, given too much information no one would care about, but Yongguk is always so interested, asking him questions to keep him going whenever he starts to lose steam or doubt himself.

But this, this is the first time he sees Yongguk outside of work, that they hasn't left the building together. It's chance, luck -- he'd been out late tonight, working on a paper in the library, and Jongup had called him about a party at one of the upper classmen's apartments, and Junhong had thought, he might as well go, have a little fun, what could it hurt? There's a shortcut from the campus, through the park, and that's where he sees Yongguk (Yongguk, sitting calmly in a semi circle of trees, a squirrel perched on his shoulder, a deer eating something from his hand while another sits beside him, folded up and calm, other animals all around, birds decorating the limbs of the trees, and -- and all around him, this strange soft glow, and the grass so brilliant and green despite the darkness of the night, and the flowers that seemed to grow all around the little space, spilling out around him like water...)

Junhong feels like he's intruded -- rushes away down another path, hoping he hasn't been seen but a little dizzy with what he's seen. He ends up back at his dorm, for getting Jongup and everything, lies in the dark and wonders if he daydreamed it all.

The next day, Yongguk invites him out to dinner. He tries not to put too much store in it, and also not to drop all the clipboards he's carrying when Yongguk asks it, because it really is a surprise. Probably just being nice, though, he tells himself, the semester is coming to a close pretty soon, and Junhong should take a break for finals, and Yongguk probably just wants to be nice to him (he doesn't, doesn't think about the park, and Yongguk decked in flowers and surrounded by woodland creatures like some kind of forest nymph). Junhong is himself at dinner -- weird possible sleep deprived hallucinations firmly out of mind, talking with Yongguk easily, trying to ask him a little more about himself and somehow always getting sidetracked away from his questions. He doesn't notice it until they've finished, and Yongguk walks with him the couple blocks to his dorm, the daylight fading around them. Yongguk just gives him that smile when he asks, wishing him a good night -- frustrated into boldness, Junhong presses forward and kisses him before he can go, warm and soft, fingers curled around his wrist (Yongguk's soft blush is worth it, but he just says goodnight again, soft, and leaves).

So it's a mystery. He's a mystery. Or maybe Jongup's right and Junhong's just being silly. Maybe Yongguk really is just a guy who works in a pet shelter and nothing really more than that. Junhong debates this at length, procrastinating his studying for finals, crosslegged on Jongup's dorm room floor. He comes up with a lot of increasingly ridiculous theories -- although he doesn't mention the night, the dream, because he's still not sure what that was.

Of course, it happens again.

Another late night, and this time really late, because he'd been pulling together a final paper last minute, and he's heading back to his dorm the long way, because he had to drop the paper off at his professor's office. It's quiet, the slow heat of the summer night not too oppressive at the moment, and Junhong is sort of enjoying it -- he has one test left that should be a breeze, and then vacation, a little time off to recoup and see his dog, and he'll miss it here but he doesn't live too far, he could manage to visit, if Yongguk...

Yongguk, walking slow ahead of him, flowers springing up in his wake, a soft following of animals at his heels. The deer and birds and other outdoor creatures slip away, but the straggle of cats and dogs stays close to him, abandoned, heading toward the shelter. Junhong stops midstep, mouth agape, watching as Yongguk quietly leads the animals along, everything softer, brighter around him, the moon seeming to cast its glow on him in particular, the stars twinkling, flowers in his hair...

Junhong follows him. It isn't a conscious decision, isn't really a decision at all, his feet seem to decide on their own that he needs to follow, needs to see -- but it's what he expects. At the shelter, Yongguk brings the animals inside, and Junhong stays where he is, leaning against a wall in the back -- imagines him getting them all situated, making sure they've got food and water, giving them names and paperwork for the morning crew to process. He's still imagining it when Yongguk comes back out again, which is... longer than he intended to stand there. 

"Junhong, shouldn't you be home?" he asks, quiet, and maybe the flowers had been in Junhong's imagination.

"I was heading there, and saw you, and..."

Yongguk smiles, nodding a little in understanding. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your dorm."

It's quiet, and he should say something, should _ask_ but it feels like -- well, like maybe he doesn't need to. Yongguk doesn't seem the least bit concerned that he _knows_ or that he saw, which makes it all feel... 

There's another kiss, after his last exam, when he goes to the shelter to say he's heading home tonight, to make plans to visit, to see him in a week or so. Yongguk doesn't seem the least surprised when Junhong crowds him back against the wall in his office, kissing him hotly, and Junhong likes the way Yongguk's hands curl around his hips to hold onto him.

Junhong thinks he sees him. Home again, with Mochi vying for his attention against his parents and his brother (the dog wins easily) he has a lot of late nights, out with old friends, or just going for walks, enjoying the warm nights back home. But every now and then there's that same strange glow, that aura of living things, the scent of flowers on the night breeze, and Junhong thinks he sees Yongguk in the woods behind his house, or walking down the street towards town, and the only thing he can point to in the morninng is the bright flowers that seem to pop up everywhere (not proof, you're imagining things). 

He visits the shelter after a week, the animals all happy to see him, Yongguk as warm as always, and they have lunch together, Junhong staying at the shelter to help out after. It's not really late when Yongguk's shift ends, but they both pretend like it is, or Junhong says it is and Yongguk goes along with it, inviting him back to his apartment for dinner, murmuring that it's too late for him to drive all the way back home...

(Yongguk's skin tastes of fresh rain and warm sunshine, and Junhong finds burning passion under that quiet, calm exterior, and he couldn't be happier with the discovery.)

In the morning, he helps Yongguk make breakfast, laughing and teasing him, making a mess. He heads home happy, content, excited to see him again.

He won't ask, he thinks, not yet. Not now. Maybe not for a long time. For now, he thinks, this is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> it looks weird without notes at the end so here i am again
> 
> anyway thanks bye xxx fade


End file.
